Radishes are a good root vegetable. Proper planting and care of radishes in open ground

Radishes are one of the most commonly grown plants in summer cottages. This is due to the fact that this vegetable is very healthy and easy to care for. Growing radishes is accessible even to beginners; you just need to follow the watering rules, which we will talk about in more detail a little later. Breeding begins with preparing the soil and sowing seeds, after which it is necessary to observe only such conditions as the length of daylight hours, the dependence of the frequency of watering on air temperature, and loosening the soil.

Growing radishes is accessible even to novice gardeners.

Preparing the soil for planting

Proper care during cultivation involves preparing the soil, which should be loose, fertile, and have neutral acidity. Poor soils are absolutely not suitable, as radishes will not receive the proper nutrients. In the fall, they begin to prepare the area for planting; humus and peat are added to the soil, as well as a small amount of phosphate and potassium fertilizers. You cannot use organic fertilizers or soil in which radishes and cabbage grew before.

Also, care involves the complete absence of manure, since leaves grow well from it, but at the same time they completely take all the nutrients from the root crop.

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Rules for planting radishes

Proper agricultural technology for growing radishes suggests that they can be sown in a bed where tomatoes were previously grown. You can start planting seeds at the end of May, around the twentieth, which will allow you to get excellent harvest. The planting depth should be up to two centimes, which is necessary for fruit set, the distance between individual rows should be 8-10 cm. Up to 15 g of seeds can be planted per square meter, that is, about 1500-2000 pieces.

To get a rich crop, the sprouts that have emerged need to be thinned out, leaving a distance of two centimeters.

Growing radishes from seeds, that is, planting them, is no longer recommended if daylight hours are more than 12 hours, so it is necessary to plan all work in advance. Optimal time You can call it early spring, when the temperature is not yet so high and daylight hours are not so long, or the second half of summer.

Care at this time is as follows: the soil is pre-watered abundantly, after which the seeds are sown. After the first leaves appear on young plants, they are thinned out, leaving a distance of two centimes. For many beginning gardeners, the unsuccessful cultivation of radishes is due precisely to the fact that thinning was not done on time.

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Growing radishes

The technology for growing radishes is extremely simple; only weeding, timely watering, and loosening are required. Let's take a closer look at exactly what conditions are required to obtain a bountiful radish harvest.

Radishes are very moisture-loving; they require quite a lot of moisture, especially in hot, dry weather. Radishes should be watered twice a day: morning and evening. Only in this case will the root crop be juicy, very dense and tasty. If there is a lack of water, a problem such as bolting is possible; root crops stop forming, and if they do appear, they become rough, hollow, and the plant begins to sharply shoot out shoots.

On cool days, watering should be moderate, even rare, but when it gets warmer, the amount of water should be increased sharply. In hot weather, the watering rate should be 10 liters per 1 sq.m of planting.

Watering is also important when the first leaf appears; at this time it is recommended to water the radish every three hours so that it begins to develop correctly - if this is not done, the root crop will become bitter, very hard, but excess moisture is also dangerous - the radish will begin to crack.

Care also applies to daylight hours; if left too long, the vegetable will become small and tasteless, so in the summer it is recommended to keep black film ready to cover the beds. The best option is the cultivation of radishes in greenhouse conditions, where all the necessary conditions can be provided. Many people at their dachas use regular greenhouses, which are also great for this. It is recommended to germinate the seeds a little before planting in the ground, which will make the vegetable stronger and more stable.

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Causes of poor growth

Constant weeding and loosening will help to grow a good harvest.

To grow an excellent radish crop, you must fully follow all the recommendations and rules, despite the fact that care is very simple. Many people think that it is enough to simply plant seeds and water them. But this is far from true. If you do not take care of the vegetable, problems such as underdevelopment, bolting, and flowering may arise. The reason is improper care, but it is worth noting the following:

long frosts, during which the radishes were not protected;
improper care regarding watering. Lack of water leads to the soil drying out, and for radishes this means underdevelopment of the root crop and even death of the plant;
high temperatures immediately after seed germination also often leads to a sharp decrease in yield and quality;
non-compliance with sowing deadlines. Often early varieties are sown too late, that is, the conditions for growth are not met;
improper lighting, lack of it;
unthinned beds.

In order to avoid such problems, the following measures must be taken:

constant weeding and loosening;
plant nutrition;
watering;
compliance with daylight hours, if necessary, additional artificial lighting is arranged;
after rains, even not very heavy ones, the soil must be loosened immediately.

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Radish diseases: ways to solve problems

The technology for growing radishes is remarkably simple, but it still happens that the plant is affected by diseases and insects. Most often this happens when the rules of breeding and care are violated. Radishes cannot be grown in acidic soils, because in this case the vegetable will be affected by a dangerous viral disease - clubroot, which provokes the development of growths on the root part. Such a plant can no longer be eaten; it is recommended to destroy it, and carefully check neighboring root crops.

Radishes in late May are also damaged by insects such as cabbage fly and cruciferous flea beetles. At the same time, ulcers appear on the leaves of the plant. Pollination with infusion of garlic, ash, and tobacco dust can help.

Cruciferous flea beetles are dangerous because they can destroy all crops before the first shoots appear, so it is best to take preventive measures. To do this, the beds must be constantly weeded, the soil loosened, and sprinkling carried out.

Radishes cannot be grown in acidic soils; this will result in a poor harvest or its complete absence.

Proper care is also necessary to avoid damage from cabbage flies. The insect lays its eggs between May and June on the stems, near the stems in the soil, about a week later the larvae appear and begin to gnaw through the roots.

To destroy the insect and prevent its further appearance, you can use the following mixture: 100 wood ash and tobacco dust, a teaspoon of ground pepper. It is applied between the rows of radishes, then the soil is loosened to a depth of two to three centimes every three to four days.

Radish is a fast-ripening vegetable crop and is one of the first to give its harvest to diligent gardeners. But provided they know when to plant radishes and how to grow healthy root crops. With the right agricultural technology, you can harvest tasty radishes from early spring until autumn frosts. To do this, you need to observe the frequency of sowing and know when to plant radishes in spring and summer, and when to plant radishes in autumn. After all, sometimes autumn planting or late summer radishes are more successful than planting late spring radishes. To always have best result, we’ll find out why it depends and how to grow radishes correctly.

RADISH FROM THE CRUCIFLOWER FAMILY

Radishes are part of the Brassica, or Cruciferous, family, and are grown throughout Russia, both in open and closed ground. Its homeland is considered to be the Mediterranean, and its closest relative is the bitter radish.

Radish cultivation began in the 16th century. It stands out among other root crops in that in just 20-40 days after the seeds germinate, finished marketable products are obtained. Moreover, some hybrids use leaves for cooking.

An annual vegetable plant consists of a root and a bunch of leaves. Most varieties of radishes have a round or close to this shape, but there are varieties and hybrids of oval, conical and cylindrical. They can be colored pinkish, red, white, yellow and purple-pinkish.

The elongated oval leaves have a wavy edge. Small flowers in a raceme-type inflorescence are painted in pinkish and white shades, located at the top of a branched shoot. Brownish spherical seeds ripen in fruit pods.

CONDITIONS FOR GROWING RADISH

Radish agricultural technology directly depends on growing conditions, namely:
illumination - radishes grow well in light or partial shade,
temperature,
acidity and soil fertility,
length of daylight hours,
required amount of moisture.

Temperature

Radishes tolerate low temperatures well and begin to germinate already at two or three degrees Celsius. Its seedlings can withstand short frosts down to -3°C, and adult plants up to -6°C. But at low temperatures, seed germination lasts more slowly, up to two weeks, and the formation of root crops is inhibited, while the percentage of underdeveloped ones increases.

In addition, low temperatures at +5-10 degrees accelerate the formation of flower shoots, after which the root crop ceases to form correctly or does not grow at all. It tastes bitter, hard, rough. Radishes bloom even faster in hot summer weather.

The optimal daytime temperature for growing radishes will be +15-20 degrees, and at night +11-15 degrees. In such conditions, root crops develop quickly and become large, strong and juicy.

Length of daylight hours

This indicator should not be underestimated, since with excess light or lack thereof, the correct formation of the crop is disrupted. With more than 12 hours of daylight, especially in hot weather, root crops initially develop quite quickly, but soon abruptly end their growth without achieving the desired result. At the same time, the leaves begin to grow rapidly, after which the radish begins to bloom. But with 10-11 hours of daylight, radishes do not form inflorescences until the root crops ripen, and this allows you to get a high-quality harvest of tasty radishes.

The soil

For good and rapid growth, the crop needs loose, permeable soils with plenty of nutrients. In terms of composition, loams will be the best, since sandy and clay soils will have to be improved. In addition to the standard enrichment of the substrate, it will be useful to add clay for sandy soils, and sand for clay soils.

The acidity of the soil for radishes can vary from slightly acidic to neutral (pH 6.0-7.2), but it should not be acidic. Strongly acidic soils harm root crops, causing clubroot disease, so such soils must be limed. To do this, add 1 to 2 kg of lime per 10 square meters. Helps reduce acidity and added with digging ash , it also enriches the soil with nutrients.

Organic fertilizers(manure or humus) for growing radishes is applied only on lands with a small amount of humus and under the previous crop. In this case, for one square meter accounts for 4 to 5 kg of organic matter. If for some reason this could not be done, then it is worth using complex quick-acting fertilizers or compost, but not fresh manure, which makes radishes hollow, promotes diseases, and reduces the shelf life of radishes.

Moisture

Culture requires a large number of water. Its lack even for 2-3 hours causes radishes to bloom, and root vegetables to become lignified or soft. To avoid this in hot weather, plants are watered twice a day and sprinkled.

But you shouldn’t overdo it with watering; the soil under the radishes should “breathe”. In rainy weather or with excessive watering, root vegetables may crack.

To facilitate care and delay the evaporation of moisture from the soil in hot weather, beds with radishes are covered non-woven material(spunbond) or mulch with compost or peat.

WHEN TO PLANT RADISH

Radishes are considered to be an early spring vegetable, but radishes can be planted in central Russia throughout the entire warm period - from mid-April to early September. That is, in order to always have a fresh harvest of radishes on the table, you can plant radishes immediately after the snow melts, as soon as the soil stops smearing the shovel. Sowing is carried out in small batches and repeated periodically throughout the season. The difference between radish plantings is usually from 8 to 14 days. During this period, the seedlings of the previous sowing will already have one true leaf.

However, traditionally, in open ground in the middle zone, radishes are sown for the last time in the spring no later than May 25, then they take a break until the beginning of August, when the radishes are planted “for the fall.” The big advantage of late summer planting radishes is the small amount cruciferous flea beetles , moderate temperature, optimal daylight hours and sufficient precipitation. First ten days of September - deadline When can you plant radishes in the fall?

Temporary film shelters or greenhouses help extend the period of consumption of fresh radishes. In this case, radishes are sown earlier in the spring. In the greenhouse it must have time to ripen before planting tomatoes, peppers or cucumbers. In the fall, radishes can be planted under cover until mid-September. In addition to the listed crops, it grows well after onions and potatoes.

HOW TO GROW RADISH

They begin to prepare the land for crops in the fall. On low-fertility soils, before digging, add various types of compost or humus, and also add mineral fertilizers along with microelements. If it was not possible to fill the soil in the autumn, then just before sowing, add a mixture of fertilizers (superphosphate, saltpeter and potassium chloride) or use a ready-made complex fertilizer.

Sowing is most often carried out using the so-called tape method. Several rows (from 2 to 10) are placed at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other. Then they retreat 40-60 cm and sow the rows again. When sowing, the seeds are placed at a depth of 1 to 2 cm, and the distance between them is from 3 to 4 cm. On heavy cold soils, radishes are sown on raised beds.

When sowing densely, the seedlings will have to be thinned out, which can damage neighboring radish roots and reduce the yield, so it is better to immediately spread the seeds in the furrows at the required distance. For 1 sq. m consume 1.8-2 g of radish seeds. In spring and summer planting per 1 sq. m place up to 150 plants, in the fall - 50.

Sowing is carried out in a compacted furrow (not loose, so as not to bury the seeds) and only in well-moistened soil. After finishing the work, it is advisable to cover the bed with a special non-woven material or greenhouse film (in cold weather). This technique speeds up seed germination and helps protect against cruciferous flea beetles.

Radish care

If the crops are dense, they are broken through 7-8 days after the first seedlings appear. Since the growing time for radishes takes from 20 to 40 days, fertilizing is carried out only if there is a severe lack of nutrients. Mineral fertilizers applied during the formation of root crops with an interval of 10 days. Two fertilizations are carried out with nitrogen fertilizers with high content phosphorus and potassium. After this, the root vegetables can be used for food only after 10 days.

Quite often, radishes sown in the summer produce small or no root crops, and the plants immediately begin to throw out shoots with flowers. To improve the quality of root crops, the bed with radishes is covered from 19:00 to 7:00 in the morning with a dark, light-proof material - black spunbond, cardboard boxes, burlap, boxes, upholstered thick paper.

The rest of radish care consists of regular watering, loosening the soil and removing weeds. Large root vegetables with a delicate taste are obtained only with a normal amount of moisture in the soil.

During the entire growing period of this crop, you should not use chemicals for pest control, the main of which are cruciferous flea beetles. It is better to make do with preparations prepared on the basis of insecticidal plants. It could be tansy garlic or celandine. Dusting the leaves with ash or its mixture with tobacco dust helps. For better adhesion, do this after dew or after watering or rain.

The right variety also helps better harvest. IN last years New varieties of radish have been created that react poorly to day length, low or high temperatures, and are relatively resistant to fruit blossoming or cracking. For example, the hybrids “Zarya”, “Red Giant”, “Forcing Red” and “Ice Icicle” are best suited for sowing in spring and early summer. And for late summer and autumn growing use “Ruby”, “Rose-red with white tip”, “Saxa”. Throughout the season, you can grow the varieties “French Breakfast”, “Mercado”, “Poker F1”, “Cherry Belle”, “Malaga” and others. For early spring and late autumn, cold-resistant varieties “Zhara” and “Zlata” are suitable.

Radishes are one of the early vegetables, the first harvest of which can be harvested in the spring to replenish the deficiency of substances necessary for the body after winter vitamin deficiency. The culture is distinguished by its early maturity and ease of care. During the season, it is possible to grow several crops of radishes in open ground. And so that it is always on the table in the summer, it is necessary correct selection varieties and planting seeds at several times.

Description: varieties and varieties of crops

Radishes are primarily an annual crop. But there are also two-year-old varieties of this vegetable. Radish fruits are usually red on the outside, but white and juicy on the inside. But the color of the skin can be different - white, yellow, purple, pink. Radishes also differ in the shape of the root crop, which can be round, elliptical or cylindrical. Conventionally, the following groups are distinguished by variety:

Ultra early or early ripening - ripen in 18-20 days. Famous ones include such as “18 days” and “Firstborn”;
Early - ripening period 20-30 days. Popular varieties are “Saksa”, “Carmen”, “French Breakfast”, “Heat”;
Mid-season - you can get a radish harvest in 30-35 days. In this group, Duro can be called one of the most popular among gardeners;
Late - ripen in 36-45 days. “Red Giant”, “Champion”, “Ice Icicle” are popular high-yielding varieties.

Attention! When growing radishes in open ground, you need to adhere to the timing of planting seeds, depending on the crop variety. Landing early radish It is better to carry out in the spring, and in the middle terms - in the summer. For late-ripening ones, the first ten days of August are more suitable.

Planting a plant

To plant seeds in open ground It is preferable to choose places well lit by the sun, protected from the winds. Areas with slight shade are also acceptable for growing crops during the summer, when daylight hours are long. For the most favorable development, this crop needs about 10 hours of daylight, otherwise the growth of the radish slows down and a shoot quickly forms, especially in hot weather conditions.

Loose and light soils are optimal for planting radishes. Preferably neutral or slightly acidic. If the soil is too acidic, then you need to lime it before planting this vegetable. Radishes grow well in loamy soils. It is also possible to grow it in sandy areas, but more frequent watering is needed here.

Radish shoots

You can plant radishes in the soil early enough, when the ground has thawed and warmed up to about 15 degrees. bed for spring planting It is better to prepare the crops in the fall by digging up the soil along with compost, manure or humus. Then in the spring you only need to loosen the soil or dig it shallowly. It is better to soak the seeds for a day before planting in open ground so that they swell. They are sown in furrows about 1-2 cm deep with a distance between them of about 5 cm or a little more. The distance between the rows of radishes is preferably about 10-15 cm, otherwise there will not be enough space for them.

Features of care

Growing radishes is not too difficult, but it still requires some care. Otherwise, you shouldn’t even count on a rich harvest. And all work when caring for radishes must be carried out in a timely manner. When planting seeds in early spring, when frosts are still possible, care must be taken to protect the young seedlings so that they do not die. To do this, a bed with still immature seedlings can be covered with film or special material.

Caring for this vegetable when grown in open ground consists of:

regular watering;
weeding;
loosening between rows;
thinning seedlings.

Care consists of loosening the soil, watering and fertilizing

Watering plants requires special attention. It should be quite frequent and abundant. In dry weather, it is better to water the seedlings even 2 times a day to prevent the soil from drying out. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, this leads to the appearance of bitterness in the root crop. Due to lack of water, radishes quickly form an arrow with a peduncle, and the process of plant reproduction begins. To better retain moisture, mulch is carried out in the garden bed. But when caring for plants, you should not allow the soil to become waterlogged either, because excess water causes cracking of the fruits.

Weeding the beds to remove weeds and loosening the rows are also important components of crop care. But it is advisable not to allow the area where the radishes are planted to become overgrown with weeds, since they do not like interference in the root zone. The same applies to thinning seedlings. Therefore, it is better to immediately make the plantings not too thick, so that later you do not have to remove the excess. If the radishes were planted densely, then thinning should be done very carefully.

Fertilizing and feeding radishes

It is advisable to prepare the soil in the garden bed where you plan to plant radishes in the fall. In the spring, just before sowing the crop, you can add phosphorus and potassium fertilizers or just a little wood ash. And you need to be careful with nitrogen fertilizers, not to add too much of them to the ground for radishes. Otherwise, the tops will grow too much, and the root crop will be small, elongated and oversaturated with nitrates. In sufficiently rich soils during the growing season of plants, additional fertilizer is usually not required. If the land is poor, you can do one fertilizing, but no more.

Advice. Radishes do not tolerate fresh manure well. If you put it into the ground just before sowing, the root crops will be hollow inside.

Plant propagation

Radish propagation occurs by seed. With the appearance of the arrow, a peduncle begins to form. After flowering has ended, small pods can be seen on the radishes, in which the seeds will ripen. To propagate radishes of the variety you like (not a hybrid), you can take several plants with the most best signs. After the arrow appears, dig them up, cut off the root tip and plant them separately. And so that they do not pollinate with other varieties, during flowering you need to throw covering material on these plants.

Radishes are often attacked by slugs

Diseases and pests of crops

The main pest is the cruciferous flea beetle. Young seedlings, which insects can simply destroy, especially need to be protected from them. For stronger plants, these pests are no longer so dangerous. To scare away, use ash, sprinkling it on plants. You can also spray the radishes with a solution of ash with laundry soap and water. Tobacco dust is also used for these purposes. Mole crickets, wireworms, caterpillars, and slugs are also crop pests, but they are less dangerous than fleas.

Among the dangerous diseases of radish are bacteriosis, blackleg and clubroot. To understand what plants affected by these diseases look like, it is best to look at a photo of such a radish. Having done this, it will be very easy to identify a diseased plant in the future.

Combination of radishes with other plants

It is beneficial for radishes when combined with crops such as pumpkin, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, beans, and peas. They are also good predecessors for him. It goes well with carrots, parsnips and onions. A combination with hyssop will have an unfavorable effect on it. It is not advisable to plant horseradish and cabbage after all the root crops.

Growing radishes in open ground is not very difficult. Even a beginner can handle this. The main thing is to sow radishes on time and then follow some rules for caring for them.

Instructions for growing radishes: video

Growing radishes: photo

He was also quick. Radishes are the first vegetable to appear on our table in the spring, so every summer resident strives to set aside 1-2 beds for them.

Autumn radishes are beautiful and juicy. It tastes better and is of better quality than the spring one. In addition, in the fall the plants are not attacked by pests. The only downside to fall radishes is that there are already a lot of vegetables, including cruciferous root vegetables, late in the season. In October, the harvesting of black and Margelan radishes and daikon ends, so radishes do not cause much delight among household members.

Spring radishes are a completely different matter. The body, hungry for vitamins during the winter, rejoices in any fresh greenery. For several weeks in May, radishes become the queen of the table.

Planting radishes in spring

The second feature of radishes after early ripening is that they belong to a group of plants have a long day. This means that when the day lasts more than 13 hours, the radish goes into the arrow, that is, instead of root crops, it forms generative organs - flowers and seeds. Therefore, radish root crops cannot be grown in midsummer. At this time it is grown to obtain seeds. In order for the plants to form root crops, plant radishes in such a way that the plants develop in short daylight hours, that is, sow radishes in early spring or late summer.

Planting radishes in spring in open ground begins as soon as the snow melts from the soil. In order not to waste precious spring time waiting for the ground to thaw, prepare the bed in advance, in the fall. Then after the snow melts, all that remains is to spread out the seeds and sprinkle with last year’s compost.

To obtain the earliest possible harvest, shelters are used. Planting radishes in a greenhouse allows you to provide your family with fresh vitamins during the period when they are especially needed - in March-April.

Radishes in a greenhouse begin to sprout at a temperature of 4 degrees. This cold resistance allows it to be grown in unheated polycarbonate greenhouses, sowing in conditions middle zone at the end of February.

Not every variety is suitable for planting in a greenhouse. It is ideal to use varieties bred for greenhouses. These are Greenhouse and Early Red. If the store does not have seeds of heifer varieties, then buy early-ripening and bolting-resistant varieties: Zarya, Zharu, Saksu.

The greenhouse is put in order in March. After the top 3 cm of soil has thawed, you can begin planting. Seeds are planted in double-line ribbons so that they can be thinned out. The distance between lines is 8 cm, in a row 2 cm.

Only selected material should be sown in the greenhouse, so before sowing, sift the seeds through a sieve with cells with a diameter of 2 mm. Then dip them in a dark purple manganese solution for 30 minutes - this will increase germination and reduce the likelihood of seedlings dying from fungal diseases.

Planting radishes in autumn

To get radishes in October, sow them in the twenties of August. If there is not enough space in the garden bed, use the crop as a compactor. For example, sow radish seeds in a bed with young strawberries planted this year.

The distance between seeds depends on the variety. Large-fruited varieties, such as Duro, are planted after 10 centimeters, ordinary varieties - after 5 centimeters.

If you want to get full-fledged, large root crops, then do not be greedy and plant the seeds often. When planted too thickly, autumn radishes grow small and unsightly, prone to pests and diseases.

The earliest spring harvest can be obtained by winter sowing, but there are some pitfalls. If the weather conditions of winter and spring are unfavorable, radishes sown before winter may bloom. But the weather may be favorable, and radish seeds are inexpensive, so why not experiment with winter sowing?

Growing radishes in open ground

Growing radishes in open ground is not difficult. The main thing is not to plant in the shade, where the plants will get sick, stretch out and suffer from pests. In this case, you may not expect a harvest, despite following all the rules of agricultural technology.

Weed the plantings regularly and, if necessary, thin out them, first pulling out the root crops that are already edible. There is no need to feed the plants; the fertilizers added during planting will suffice.

The main condition for growing radishes in open ground is to keep the soil moist. If you want to get truly tasty, sweet and juicy radishes, do not forget to water them. Sometimes, in particularly hot weather, radish beds have to be watered twice a day and this does not harm the plant.

If there is insufficient watering, the taste of root vegetables will be sharp, bitter, and they themselves will be small and ugly.

Growing radishes in protected soil

When growing radishes in a greenhouse, follow the correct temperature regime. Before germination, the optimal air temperature is 16-18 o C. After germination, the temperature should drop so that the plants do not stretch out. At this stage, it is enough to maintain 12 o C in the greenhouse.

A week after germination, the radishes form a root crop. It can form at 12 o C, but if the building is warmer, the process will go faster - therefore, if possible, the temperature is raised to 20 o C. At night it should drop to 10 o C.

When seedlings appear, the radishes are thinned out, leaving 3 cm gaps between plants. The distance allows the leaves to take a horizontal position, which reduces the likelihood of bolting. The soil in the greenhouse should be slightly moist.

It is worth considering in detail how to grow radishes on a windowsill in winter, as this is a more complex process than growing them in a greenhouse.

Growing radishes on a windowsill

When growing on a windowsill, create a the necessary conditions. It is more difficult to provide the desired temperature and lighting. The room is too hot and dark for the plants. They stretch out and the root vegetables become tasteless.

The task is made easier if the house has a cool non-residential area with large windows, For example, closed veranda or loggia. In such rooms, radishes will grow well on the windowsill if the temperature is in the range of 8-18 o C. At night the temperature should be lower than during the day.

Even in cool rooms in the first half of winter, radishes on the windowsill have to be illuminated, otherwise they will stretch out. For additional lighting, phytolamps or LEDs are used. It is better to connect the lamps to the network through a time relay - a simple and inexpensive device that allows you to automate the operation of electrical appliances.

When choosing a supplementary lighting mode, remember that radishes belong to long-day vegetables. Supplemental lighting should not lengthen daylight hours, but increase the intensity of natural light.

Radish is the earliest vegetable that is grown everywhere from spring to autumn. It is he who, due to his cold resistance and early ripening, is the first to appear in our diet after the long winter months. The vegetable has a characteristic pungent taste due to the presence of mustard oils. It also contains a whole range of vitamins and microelements.

How do radishes grow?

This crop is most often cultivated in open ground. Radishes tolerate low positive temperatures well, although temperatures around +15…+18°C are considered optimal for its growth. It is undemanding in care, and therefore any novice gardener can successfully cope with its cultivation.

Thanks to the short growing season, this vegetable can be harvested several times per season, starting in early spring and ending late autumn. Early varieties reach food maturity within 3–4 weeks after planting. Many gardeners practice sowing radishes with a break of 7–10 days for continuous receipt harvest.

Radishes are most often grown in open ground.

Planting radishes in open ground

Early spring sowing is carried out after the snow melts and the soil warms up. When the air temperature is above +1...+2°C, the seeds are already able to sprout. However, the following must be taken into account:

at values less than +10°C, the seed germinates for quite a long time, sometimes up to 2–3 weeks;
at temperatures from +10 to +15°C, seeds are able to sprout in 7–8 days;
if the average temperature fluctuates between +18 and +23°C, then seedlings will appear on the 4th day.

Typically sowing occurs in mid-April, although in the southern regions radishes can be sown as early as mid or late March.

Soil preparation

The garden bed is set up in a well-lit area protected from the winds. You should not grow radishes in the place where representatives of the Cruciferous family, to which it itself belongs, previously grew: turnips, radishes, cabbage, mustard, daikon. For better yield, it is recommended to alternate the planting site with plants from other families.

Radishes are an excellent precursor for others vegetable crops, for example, tomatoes. It will prepare the soil and have time to produce a harvest before planting the tomato seedlings.

A plot for radishes needs to be prepared in the fall. Soft and loose soil with weak or neutral acidity is best suited for planting it. Heavy and poor soils will need to be fertilized with humus (2–3 kg per 1 m²). Clay soil can be dug up with the addition of coarse sand and peat. The addition of various minerals will have a very good effect complex fertilizers(superphosphate, potassium salt, etc.). They are added at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. per 1 m². If the soil has high acidity, then it must be deacidified using lime (fluff) or wood ash.

Before planting, the radish plot must be dug up and leveled with a rake.

Radishes love soft soil, so the bed should be dug up and carefully leveled

Seed preparation

The seed material must first be sorted (calibrated) manually or through a sieve, selecting specimens of at least 2–3 mm in diameter. This will ensure better germination and a bountiful harvest.

For sowing it is necessary to select large seeds

Selected seeds should be soaked so that they “wake up”.

Wrap the seeds in a wet cloth and place on a saucer.
Place it in a warm place, preferably on a radiator, so that there is constant heating. The temperature should be about 30 o C.
Moisten the fabric as it dries.
Once a day, unwrap the seeds and rinse them with warm water.

Awakened seeds sprout much earlier.

Sowing

After selecting and awakening the seeds, you can sow them in the ground. The landing procedure takes place in several simple steps.

Furrows are made in the bed about 2–3 cm deep and at a distance of 15–20 cm from each other.
The grooves are well shed with water.
Then it is laid out in them planting material with gaps between seeds of 2–3 cm.
The grooves are covered with earth and lightly compacted.
Mulch with a layer of peat or humus (about 2 cm).
The bed is covered with film or any covering material until shoots appear. Afterwards it is removed.

Seeds are planted at a shallow depth

When planting seeds, it is necessary to take into account the soil structure. In heavier clay soils they need to be planted at a shallower depth.

Video: sowing radishes in open ground

Caring for radishes in open ground

The time of emergence of seedlings directly depends on weather conditions. If they are favorable, the first leaves may appear as early as 4–5 days. Further care care of seedlings consists of regular watering, loosening and thinning of plantings.

At favorable conditions radishes germinate in 4–5 days

Collateral good harvest radish is proper watering. This crop prefers soil moisture of at least 75–80%. Lack of moisture affects the taste of root vegetables - they become too bitter. In addition, in conditions of excessive dryness, the plant grows green mass and shoots without forming root crops. Excessive moisture, especially before ripening, threatens cracking or rotting of the fruits, and also spoils their structure - they become watery.

Radishes love good watering.

Radishes require daily watering in the evening or morning. During dry periods, it is necessary to moisten the plantings twice a day. Particular care should be taken to monitor soil moisture immediately after the first pair of leaves appear. The soil should be constantly slightly moist and under no circumstances should it dry out.

Thinning of seedlings

After the first two leaves appear, the seedlings must be thinned out, otherwise the fruits will not be able to fully form. The distance between plants should be at least 3–5 cm. If a large-fruited variety is grown, then you need to leave about 8–10 cm. The smallest and weakest sprouts should be removed, leaving the strongest ones.

It is necessary to thin out radishes to obtain larger root crops

Weeding and loosening

It is necessary to periodically weed the beds, pulling out weeds, as they take away nutrients and interfere with the growth of root crops.

Regular weeding helps good growth root vegetables

Loosening is done after each watering. This should be done very carefully and shallowly so as not to damage the growing vegetable.

Provided that the soil is well prepared, early radishes will only need one fertilizing during the growing season. For poor soils, at least two procedures are necessary to compensate for the nutrient deficiency. You can use an infusion of compost or manure, which is added to the water for irrigation.

Poor soils need to be fertilized at least twice

By appearance plants can see exactly what they are missing. If there is too much foliage and the root crops are very small, then potassium-phosphorus fertilizers will be required (according to the instructions). It is very useful to feed radishes with sulfur: in a bucket warm water dissolve 20 g of potassium sulfate, 100 g of ash and 40 g of superphosphate. The beds are watered with this mixture after moistening.

A weak and pale aerial part signals a nitrogen deficiency. Need 1 tsp. Dissolve urea in a bucket of water. After watering with this solution, the plants will immediately begin to grow. However, it is very important not to exceed the dosage, otherwise the tops will be too large and the roots will be small.

Radishes do not like the application of fresh manure.

Treatment against diseases and pests

Radishes are rarely affected by pests and diseases, since they have a very short growing season - they simply do not have time to harm the plant enough. But sometimes the following diseases occur:

Bacteriosis. Root vegetables become covered with mucus and acquire a characteristic putrid odor. Spraying with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture will help to cope with it.
Kila. The foliage turns yellow and withers, swellings and compactions form on the fruits. In this case, the ground around the plants is treated with lime milk, which is prepared from 250 g of fluff lime and 10 liters of water (1 liter of composition per plant).
Blackleg. The seedlings are affected - the stem turns black and curls. Treat with onion infusion (1 liter of water and 20 g of onion peel) or 1% copper sulfate with laundry soap (1 liter of solution per 10 m²).

Photo gallery: the most common radish diseases

Black leg affects seedlings, preventing root crops from forming Bacteriosis leads to rotting of root crops Kila is characterized by the formation of growths on fruits and roots

The main pest threatening radishes is the cruciferous flea beetle. It is especially dangerous for young seedlings. It is no longer capable of causing much harm to grown plants. The following measures are effective in combating it:

Prepare a solution from two glasses of wood ash, 40–50 g laundry soap and 1 bucket of water. Spraying is carried out once every 7–10 days.
You can simply sprinkle crushed ash between the rows.
The plantings are treated with tobacco dust. For the solution, take 2 tbsp. ash and 50 g of laundry soap per 10 liters of water.

Cruciferous flea beetle is especially dangerous for seedlings

The most in an effective way there will be processing chemicals(Bankol, Karate, Inta-Vir). But this should be done in the most as a last resort, since radish roots very easily accumulate harmful substances.

Radishes can be affected by nematodes (wireworms). To combat it, Fitoverm, which is harmless to humans, is effective. The drug solution is prepared in accordance with the instructions.

Winter planting of radishes

You can sow radishes before winter. In this case, the harvest can be obtained in the spring a couple of weeks earlier. The most cold-resistant varieties are suitable for this (Mayak, Mercado, etc.). Sowing is carried out with the onset of frost, usually in mid-November.

Seeds are planted in dry soil.
The beds are well mulched with humus or peat.
Then the soil in the garden bed must be compacted and covered with spruce branches.

You can sow radishes in winter to reap an early harvest in spring.

What to do if radishes go into color

When the air temperature is above +25°C and the daylight hours are more than 12 hours, growing radishes becomes problematic, as they bolt and the fruits become woody and bitter. For this reason, the vegetable is grown in spring or autumn, when daylight hours last no more than 12 hours and the temperature is about +20°C.

Early varieties are planted in spring, in March or April. They have time to ripen, unlike the later ones, whose growing season is 45–60 days. Late and mid-late varieties are best sown in the fall, at the end of summer (August).

Radishes bloom in long days and hot weather.

However, any gardener would not mind having fresh radishes on the table throughout the season. Therefore, if necessary, it (like other long-day plants) can be artificially created with short daylight hours. This will improve the quality of root crops, preventing the plants from blooming.

It's quite simple to do this:

Build a frame the width of the bed and a height of 20–30 cm.
Cover it with any opaque material.
At 7 o'clock in the evening the bed must be covered with a frame, and at 7 o'clock in the morning it must be removed.

With the help of a frame shelter you can regulate daylight hours for radishes

This way, the radishes will have 12 hours of daylight, which will prevent the plants from throwing out their flower stalks.

In open ground, radishes can be grown throughout the entire summer season. If you meet a number of very simple requirements, then it will delight you with tasty and healthy fruits from early spring until late autumn.